Another important point which makes buying cheap US houses unattractive is that being a landlord is a much less attractive prospect in the US.
Being a landlord in Australia is just a matter of wandering down to your local LJ Hooker, handing over the keys, and watching as money starts magically appearing in your bank account. If you buy a block full of cheap houses in Las Vegas you'll be lucky if you can find an agent willing to manage them. If you do, you'll be lucky if he can actually rent 'em out. And if you do rent 'em out you'll be lucky if your tenants don't rip all the wires out for the copper and vanish across the border.
Being a landlord in Australia is just a matter of wandering down to your local LJ Hooker, handing over the keys, and watching as money starts magically appearing in your bank account. If you buy a block full of cheap houses in Las Vegas you'll be lucky if you can find an agent willing to manage them. If you do, you'll be lucky if he can actually rent 'em out. And if you do rent 'em out you'll be lucky if your tenants don't rip all the wires out for the copper and vanish across the border.
Oh, plus there's property taxes. Yeech.